Human solidarity A Thomistic Perspective

Abstract

This is a speculative study which explores the origins and meaning of solidarity as an ontological and ethical principle in human nature, from the perspective of the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas. The good which is proper to man is a perfection in act of the human form in each person, in conformity with the divine idea of that nature and the divine providence for his individual circumstances. As action follows being, a perfect human act is not only his own perfection as man, but a love of the good possessed by him for others who have a natural capacity to receive it. If man loves and pursues the perfection of his nature as a communicable good, he binds himself to that good as a principle of unity with his fellow men and thus participates in the communication of good by divine providence. In such communication, man acknowledges the vital distinction between person and good. His love of the common good induces that love also in others and gives rise to relationships of civic friendship. Human solidarity, in this analysis, concerns the possession and enjoyment of natural talents and material resources as goods which are intrinsically communicable and which perfect a person as imago Dei when he uses them prudently in the service of others.